


The Plan

by astraplain



Series: Good Business [7]
Category: Queer as Folk (US), The Faculty (1998)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-13 01:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4502886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraplain/pseuds/astraplain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zeke has a job for him so Brian needs a plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Contains minor references to [Illuminations](http://archiveofourown.org/works/64035)

"Kinney," Brian snapped into the phone as he juggled three screens of information. It was his personal line and he didn't have time for one of Justin's distractions right now.

"Tyler," the voice snapped back sounding amused. Brian let go of the mouse and sat back.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Tyler?" Who would have guessed the two stray teenagers Justin brought home from the diner one night eight years ago would become Kinnetik's biggest clients. Zeke Tyler was a billionaire at 27 and, along with his partner, Casey Connor, owned the newly renamed Tyler Connor Incorporated. Casey was an up and coming photographer and the publisher of "Transitory Steel" an independent art zine. It was Casey's photos that had caused him and Justin to strike up a conversation in the diner all those years ago.

"You can thank me for that little toy I sent to your house last week." Zeke's smoke-roughened voice interrupted Brian's musing.

"Kick your ass, you mean? I've barely seen Justin since the thing was delivered. I had to force feed him pizza last night before he collapsed from starvation." 

Zeke laughed.

"Just wanted to share my pain with my favorite ad man. I'm thinking of putting sedatives in Casey's beer just to make him sleep." There was a pause and a muffled conversation before he continued. "Sorry, it's crazy here today."

"Wouldn't have anything to do with your plans to market that little toy, would it?" Brian tapped out a quick email to Cynthia and Ted before opening up his file on Tyler Connor, Inc.

"Casey's obsession, you mean. This is his baby."

"More like monster. You know this is going to be huge." Zeke laughed again. He was still the smart-ass Justin dragged to the loft eight years ago but now he was savvy enough to know how to temper it. "You'll need the right marketing."

"Why do you think I'm calling." Zeke paused, then added. "Well, one of the reasons I'm calling. Why don't you invite me out there for a presentation, say next Wednesday? Casey and I can stretch it into a long weekend and the two artistes can give the toy a real workout."

"Not much for advance warning, are you? You want to stay at the house as usual?"

"If you don't mind. It'll make things easier."

"I'll put you in the other guest room way down the hall. You kept Justin and me up half the night with your wild activities last time."

Zeke snorted. "You're getting old, man. I'm going to start calling you geezer."

"Then you're going to spend the next week searching for a new ad man. You want the works for this, right? Global push?"

"The works. No shortcuts on this one. It's important to Casey."

"Only the best then. Want me to bring Justin in on consult?"

"If you can pry him away from the toy." Zeke hesitated, then added, "I sent him the wall model. Casey and I will bring along the sketchpad and doodle prototypes next week. I don't want to phase this in. I want the three units out at the same time. We're looking at late fall so it will be tight."

"But manageable." Brian leaned back, confident. If Justin's reaction was any indication, this thing was going to sell itself. "You have a name for this yet?"

"Don't even ask," Zeke groaned. "Casey's calling it 'George'. I'm thinking we need something a bit more descriptive."

"We'll work on it." Brian was already scribbling ideas on a notepad, crossing out those he disliked. What did you call a thin, flexible white screen that you could "paint" electronically and could manipulate using the built in controller or by interfacing with a  
computer to create almost any kind of drawing, painting or video art?

"Justin really likes it?" Zeke asked with just the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"He was channeling Warhol all night. Who wants soup cans on their walls?" Brian kept it light. He knew Zeke didn't have many people he could talk to with complete honesty. He'd fought hard and had been lucky to get so far so fast, but he was still young.

"Casey's doing Jackson Pollock. The spatter algorithm needed some fine-tuning. One really nice thing about this – no paint spills."

"Justin tells me the aroma of turpentine is sexy. I think his sense of smell is going." Brian liked having someone he could commiserate with. Living with an artist wasn't always easy.

"Speaking of going, I just got my ten minute warning. R & D needs some butt-kicking."

"Wednesday at ten good, or does Casey still need his beauty sleep?"

"Nah, it's six a.m. for the both of us these days. He's convinced it's some kind of evil plot. You might want to make sure there's coffee though."

"And food. Justin will be there." Brian scribbled a note to himself as a reminder. "Tell him I'll get the sun room at Anna's for lunch. He and Justin can hit the galleries from there and you and I can finish the contracts. I might even be persuaded to take you to the Diner to celebrate."

"You are an evil man, Kinney." Zeke clicked off

Brian pressed speed dial for the house, mind already working on this new challenge. He had less than a week to pull together a brilliant marketing campaign. He thought of Justin, laid out on the thick carpet lit by the glow of his Warhol-esque soup can painting and smiled. He had a plan... he'd let Justin come up with the name.


	2. Chapter 2

"We've been abandoned," Zeke said mournfully leaning against the doorframe and gazing at Casey and Justin. Neither man seemed to have heard him.

"We'll just have to find other ways to occupy ourselves," Brian suggested with the manner of someone making a great sacrifice. He flung his arms around Zeke and locked him in a passionate kiss. A passionate, noisy kiss.

"Not listening," Casey sing-songed as he reached past Justin for a piece of pizza. It had gone cold and the beer was warm but he barely noticed as he adjusted the thin remote he held and shook it wildly at the screen on the floor.

Justin pressed a button on his remote and giggled madly. The two of them dancing around each other and the white screen as if they were conducting an arcane ritual.

"What the hell have you been smoking?" Brian demanded as he and Zeke gave up on trying to lure their lovers away from their toy and joined them in surveying their latest masterpiece. It was vaguely soup-can shaped covered in random spatters of day-glo color.

"It's our first joint venture," Casey giggled, half falling against Zeke. "Warhol meets Pollock."

"Yeah," Justin added, reaching out to grab Brian and drag him closer. "It's a Warlock."

"That's it." Brian grabbed the remote out of Justin's hand and tossed it down on the coffee table before hoisting Justin up and carrying him towards the backyard. "You need some air."

"You too, Case," Zeke said with a grin as he dragged Casey away. The smaller man was still giggling and there was a distinct odor clinging to his clothes.

"They've been in your stash," Zeke said mildly as he shoved Casey, fully clothed, into the pool where Justin was sputtering and swearing. Casey joined him and for a few minutes they battled for the title of most inventive swearer. Brian lounged at the edge of the pool waiting until they really got going then let out a series of phrases that even impressed Zeke.

"I owe you dinner for that, Kinney."

"You owe me more than that, Tyler. You're the one who sent that toy here in the first place."

"You mean the toy that's going to make you a very rich ad man?"

"I'm already a rich ad man."

"Ah, but this will make you much, much richer. Might even get you out of Pittsburgh." Justin snorted at that, earning a face-full of water when Brian splashed him.

"What are you laughing at, Casey?" Justin countered when he stopped coughing. "You're still in Ohio."

"Only because it's centrally located," Casey said with a straight face, making Zeke choke.

"Admit it Kinney, you're never getting out of the 'Burg and we're never getting out of Herrington. That's why we have vacation homes all over the world – so we can pretend we're not small town losers."

"Speak for yourself, Tyler. If you're good at what you do people will come to you no matter where you live."

"Ah, so this is like a psychology experiment?" Casey was hanging onto Zeke's knees and half-floating, his eyes wide and bright in the late afternoon sun.

"Isn't everything?" Justin countered, leaning back and floating on the mild ripples. He was golden in the sunlight and almost as slim as he'd been when Brian first met him.

"Not everything," Brian replied, leaning out and grabbing Justin's ankle as he floated past. Justin flailed and went down, coming back to the surface a moment later, sputtering. He made a grab for Brian but the taller man evaded him easily. "Splash me and Zeke and I will go to Babylon without you."

"Then Casey and I will go to Meathook. Right, Case?"

"Sure," Casey said agreeably, not having heard a word. He was tracing the reflected patterns on Zeke's legs. "You know, we still don't have a name."

The three other men groaned. None of them wanted to have this discussion again. They'd been trying for days to come up with a name for Casey's brainchild – the remote controlled-art screen he and Justin had been playing with earlier. So far they were still stuck with Casey's pet name for the thing: "George".

"I still like 'NIY'," Zeke muttered, referring to his acronym for the thing: name it yourself.

"Well, and Brian's suggestion of 'fucker' is out," Justin added helpfully, giving Brian one of his brightest grins.

"So what are we left with?" Casey wondered.

"RT?" Justin suggested, half talking to himself.

"Arty?" Casey asked.

"Well yeah, but just the initials. You know, 'R' and 'T' – so it sounds like the word "arty" but it could mean something else – like 'right tools' or 'real talent'. Gives Brian something to play with for his ads."

"RT," Zeke considered the idea for a long moment before smiling and nodding. "It's workable." He looked down at Casey, ruffling his hair. "What do you think?"

"Works for me. Does this mean we can eat now?"

"Fine dining?" Brian asked as he stood, leaning down to haul Justin up and out of the pool. He was running through a mental list of his favorite restaurants until Zeke interrupted him.

"You might want to spend your night in a suit and tie, Kinney. I'd rather spend it eating junk food then working it off at Babylon."

Brian smirked, eyeing Zeke from top to bottom. "Sweater vests aren't exactly the rage, Zeke."

"Then I won't borrow your wardrobe." Zeke leaned past Casey and gave Brian a smirk in return. "Come on, Case. It's time for a fashion show."

Casey just shook his head and followed along. He wasn't even going to pretend he could compete with the others. He was never going to be a club boy and didn't particularly care. On the other hand, he did have that outfit he'd bought online. Even Zeke hadn't seen it yet. Of course there were a few other things in the suitcase Zeke hadn't seen either, but those were for later.

Grinning, Casey watched Justin and Brian groping each other and smiled. He was no Brian Kinney, but he and Zeke managed just fine.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well?" Brian shouted to be heard over the music that filled Babylon, and pounded against skin making it almost impossible not to move. Even Casey was swaying a little and drumming his fingers against the metal rail as he looked down on the crowd.

Spotlights shone on the RTs that had been added to the walls and hung from the ceiling for the product launch and patrons were clustered around the interactive art boards, laughing and dancing as they took turns creating what mostly turned out to be crude pornographic drawings.

"Not the same as last night, is it?" Brian's smirk was firmly in place. They'd spent the week at product launches all over New York and Pennsylvania and were headed to DC next to start a cross-country tour. Next month they'd start a three-week world tour and finally end up back in New York for the results of their promotional contest. This was their last chance at some relaxation and Brian had gone all out in typical Kinney fashion.

"The noise level was about the same," Zeke shouted back, grinning at the memory of Brian Kinney spending three hours in one of the world's largest toy stores, surrounded by hyperactive children and their parents.

"Don't let him fool you," Justin said, stealing Brian's beer and taking a long swallow. "He had a perfectly wonderful evening. "

"But that wasn't it," Brian and Justin finished the sentence together, smiling at each other. That particular Groucho Marx quote had become one of their often-used phrases, especially after an evening at Michael's.

"We get a day off tomorrow then it's the DC art crowd. That ought to be a little quieter."

"Good," Brian said, taking his almost empty beer back and giving Justin a glare. "I can use the time to catch up on my beauty rest."

"Well I'm looking forward to it," Casey said, casting a glance up at Zeke. His lover grinned back and put an arm around Casey, pulling him closer.

"Casey wants to watch all those famous art critics trying their hand at creating something. Ought to be an interesting evening."

"We refined the Mondrian grid function so if they can't manage anything else, they can paint in the little squares."

"The soup can's always good," Justin added with a bratty grin in Brian's direction. Brian was thoroughly fed up with Justin's Warhol phase and, in a fit of annoyance, had tossed out all the canned soup. Justin had rescued them and was waiting for just the right moment to start leaving them around the house.

"What do you think, Case? Can we call this a success and get out of here? It's been a long week."

"Don't you want to dance first?" Justin asked as he grabbed Brian's hand and started pulling him towards the stairs. "Just one and then we'll go get something to eat."

Brian sighed heavily but followed Justin while Zeke and Casey trailed along. They pushed their way into the center of the dance floor, all but ignoring the press of bodies around them.

Putting his hands on Casey's hips, Zeke leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Let's show them how it's done."

Casey grinned back, moving his hips even as he reached up and unbuttoned Zeke's shirt, tugging impatiently to free the shirttail from Zeke's very tight jeans. Sliding his hands beneath the fabric, he smiled at the feel of Zeke's warm, damp skin. He'd had just enough to drink to feel pleasantly buzzed.

"My turn," Zeke growled as he leaned down towards Casey's ear. His hands found the hem of Casey's very tight shirt and pulled up, yanking the shirt off without breaking his rhythm. With a devil's grin he turned towards Brian and yelled, "Kinney! Catch" and tossed Casey's shirt to the other man. Brian caught it and shoved it towards Justin who already had his own shirt off, letting it hang from his back pocket.

"Keep dreaming, Tyler. You're not trading that rag for my Armani."

"As if I'd want it! My D&G's got it over your old school threads. I'm just tossing you a clue. That's a custom DivaK. You might want to check him out."

"Brian's met the man," Justin said as he spun around and grabbed Casey, pulling the smaller man into a tight hold and laughing as Casey matched his dance moves without missing a beat.

"Yeah, he's a self-made man, and worships his creator," Brian snarked.

"Not unlike someone else we know?" Zeke taunted as he pulled Brian close and tried to get him to match Justin and Casey's movements, knowing it was hopeless. The man was sex in Pradas but he couldn't dance worth a damn. Zeke put his hands on Brian's hips and brought their pelvises together, laughing when Brian's movements became much more fluid.

They stared into each other's eyes, challenging each other, trying to seduce each other. It was a game they'd played often over the years but they'd never taken it farther than this. Zeke was faithful to Casey, much to Brian's annoyance, and Casey only had eyes for Zeke.

Justin laughed and pulled Casey closer, leaning down to whisper in his ear. To Zeke and Brian it looked intimate and seductive, but the reality was far away from that. Justin was telling Casey what he was planning to order at the diner.

"Time to go," Zeke said almost at the same time as Brian broke away and reached for Justin.

"Good, I'm starved," Justin insisted, tossing Casey's shirt to him before putting his own on. "Come on, Brian, we'll let Zeke Tyler, the famous businessman, treat us."

"Then we ought to go somewhere more expensive than the diner."

"Hey, you're costing me a fortune already, Kinney. Next time I create a world-wide phenomenon I'm going to hire Ad Guys R Us."

"Go ahead. See if they'd let you stay in their house and eat all their food."

"And have sex in their swimming pool," Justin added helpfully, watching as Casey blushed.

"We did not!" Casey protested, but when Zeke laughed he added, "Not technically."

"Not technically?" Brian echoed, giving Casey and then Zeke a speculative look. With a smirk he reached out and grabbed Zeke. "Boys, boys, I'm disappointed. Have I taught you nothing?" He reached down and groped Zeke, laughing when Casey tried to pull Zeke away.

"No diner for you. We'll pick up something on the way home. There's a pool waiting and we have work to do."

"Work?" Justin gave Zeke and Casey a look before the three of them chorused, "If it's work, you're not doing it right."

"We'll see who's doing it right. After all, we were just at a launch party. It's about time something or someone got off."

"As long as Casey gets to do the countdown," Zeke countered with a grin that mirrored Brian's exactly.

"Three… two… one…" Casey intoned, reaching Brian's car, opening the door and clambering in. The others piled in and put on their seatbelts as Brian started the vehicle.

"Takeoff!" they all shouted as Brian gunned the engine and broke speed limits all the way home.

::end::


End file.
